10 Best Towns and Resorts in Turks and Caicos

Grace Bay is located in Provo and is one of two main hotel and resort hubs in Turks and Caicos with elegant and stylish surroundings and luxurious lodgings and amenities. This is a place you visit to feel pampered and live like royalty, enjoying everything from full spa treatments to relaxing in the sun, snorkeling and diving along a 14-mile barrier reef, and visiting dozens of quiet bars and bistros to enjoy a cocktail in the afternoon and evening.

This is a town that's great for couples, individual travelers, and beach bums looking to relax in the lap of luxury. It's also right on the doorstep of Princess Alexandra National Park for your hiking and other outdoor adventuring.

Leeward is a residential region on the northeastern point of Providenciales with luxury villa rentals and a marina complex with oceanfront views, canals, beaches, and nature reserves. Leeward Beach is the most popular visitor attraction here. It lines miles of coast backed by limestone cliffs, rock jetties, and sandbags. The beach consists of soft white sand and sky blue waters that are ideal for relaxation.

Just a short boat ride away are the uninhabited cays of the Princess Alexandria Nature Reserve where you can go kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and wildlife viewing. It's a spectacular place for bird watching and viewing marine and island life like the Turks and Caicos Rock Iguana.

Chalk Sound is a largely residential area just adjacent to a vast national park and lagoon on Providenciales' southwest side, offering vacation villas with spectacular views. It's about 9 miles away from shopping, dining, and resort areas, and it's a good idea to have a rental car to get around here as there's no public transportation. The region offers two sheltered and lovely beaches with calm and shallow waters making them attractive to families.

The beaches offer fine, soft sand that's great for relaxation before the sky blue waters. You can also book a tour of the national park via boat tour at the neighborhood restaurant. Tours include sunset cruises and mid-day snorkeling excursions.

Long Bay Hills is a sparsely populated residential area marked by a long soft-sand beach in Providenciales offering rentals, marinas, and bordering parks and hiking trails. Long Bay Beach is one of the best spots on the islands for kiteboarding. It's also something of a hidden gem among beaches as it doesn't draw much in the way of crowds. The beach is bordered on its western ends by rocky patches that make for good selfie locales, and the waters are shallow and calm.

Just two miles off the coast, you'll find the wreck of a former oil rig and freighter that grounded during Hurricane Frances. You can visit it via a boat cruise or with a jet ski.

Turtle Cove Marina on the north-central coast of Providenciales is the oldest recreational marina on the island with tours, resorts, restaurants, shopping, and snorkeling. This is the place to come if you want the more traditional vacation experiences, as well as nabbing a luxury villa to feel pampered on your travels. You can enjoy fresh local seafood at the restaurants, boat launches for your own ships, or rentals for tours on the waters.

If you're into snorkeling, you'll want to check out Smith's Reef just offshore, which is easily accessible by any of several tour companies. This is the place that began the hospitality industry here and is still a popular spot for visitors.

Whitby is a residential region in North Caicos whose primary attraction is the pristine and popular Whitby Beach with white sand and gorgeous turquoise waters. Despite many vacation rentals being available on this beach, it tends to be sparsely populated and you won't likely have to deal with crowds or hustle and bustle here. At the pier, you can capture spectacular ocean views, and nearby is a community center with many local amenities.

At the midpoint of the beach, you can find a small but interesting snorkeling site where you can take a quick dive to catch a glimpse of local sea life. The ocean floor has a clean bottom and the beach is 3.5 miles of pristine white sand.

Cockburn Town is the capital of Turks and Caicos on the eastern side of Grand Turks Island, offering colonial architecture, stretches of beach, independent shops, and restaurants. You can see historic buildings with streets offering a traditional Caribbean feel. The international airport is here as well, and the shops allow you to find that perfect souvenir to take home to commemorate your trip.

You'll find well-maintained beaches here for taking a romantic sunset walk or getting out on a kayak to paddle in the ocean. You can take a snorkeling day trip or if you're more advanced, book a scuba dive out into the reefs offshore. Finally, you can visit several museums here to learn about the island's history.

Cockburn Harbour is the main settlement on South Caicos and is an active fishing village offering spectacular views, old ruins, and historic buildings dating to colonial times. The salt industry that once formed a major part of the economy here can be visited to the north, as well as an abandoned British colonial home from a district commissioner. You can go hiking in the Admiral Cockburn Land and Sea National Park.

The town is also the fishing capital of the islands, and you can see the industry in action. Every year, the town hosts a South Caicos Regatta sloop race, which is the party of the year.

The Bight is a major hotel hub of the islands offering lodgings, gorgeous beaches, bistro-style restaurants, and idyllic resorts as well as live music and weekly parties. The parties take place every Thursday in The Bight Park when live music is played and a fish fry is held. It's an authentic Caribbean cultural experience that's a must-do if you're here. The settlement is also close to the Providenciales International Airport so there's easy access on and off the island.

Nearby attractions include Turtle Cove, Grace Bay Beach, Smiths Reef, and the Princess Alexandria National Park, where you can go hiking, kayaking, and snorkeling. This is a serene settlement without a lot of crowds, but with plenty of adventure.

Blue Hills is a northwestern coastal settlement in Providenciales with small-scale commercial operations, local restaurants, rentals, outdoor adventure, and relaxation for the whole family. Here you can go snorkeling among old shipwrecks, swim with dolphins, and see the remains of the old salt industry and original shipbuilding industry. You can also visit the remains of a plantation dating back to the late 18th century, even seeing genuine cannons once used to defend the area.

Like the rest of Turks and Caicos, this is also a great place to simply relax on serene stretches of soft white sand and calm turquoise waters. Whether you're here for exploring, snorkeling, hiking, or history, this settlement has plentiful adventures to experience.